With President Obama in the Bay Area, somebody had to keep an eye on Washington. And that somebody was me.

I hopped the red eye and got in just in time to spot House Speaker John Boehner at the Daily Grill, complete with former Speaker Nancy Pelosi's full security detail. No reason for him to cry.

It's one of the amazing things about democracy. One day you're riding in the mayoral town car, surrounded by cops. The next day you're on Muni, surrounded by your critics.

In Washington, the downgrade goes from Air Force 4 to the red eye.

Being thrown back into the public mix never bothered me much. I always had a rule with my security team: If someone has something to say, let them come up and say it.

And believe me, the public took full advantage of it.

The herd of candidates running for San Francisco mayor shows no signs of thinning.

If anything, it's plumping up.

I just met with former Supervisor Bevan Dufty, who I thought would be looking at an early exit. Instead, he's running harder than ever.

And after talking with him, I'm starting to think he's right. The more people who run, the better it is for guys like him - not on the top tier, but not on the bottom shelf, either.

Dufty is the only open gay in the race, has a longer history in the neighborhoods than any of the better-financed candidates and, under ranked-choice voting, he only has to come in third in the first round to pull off a Jean Quan-style upset.

Dufty isn't the only one making moves, though. The other day, businesswoman Joanna Rees had 85 black ministers to her home for a meet-and-greet.

I have to believe that only 34 of those cats were actually ministers. But, according to my spies, everyone enjoyed themselves.

Since my last column item about Public Defender Jeff Adachi not being invited to the San Francisco pension reform meetings, I've come across some new information.

It turns out that Adachi has been meeting with his own pension reformers - the same ones who put up the money for his Proposition B, which drove organized labor up the wall.

I'm told the "Son of B" group is ready to pledge $1 million for another fight if whatever City Hall comes up with falls short on real cost savings.

I'll say it again. If everyone wants to avoid another costly fight, they'd better start talking to each other.